The great hole of Ripon - a huge crater which was filled in only a year ago with 2,000 tonnes of stone - could be on the move again.

The 40ft wide and 16ft deep crater in Ure Bank Terrace spectacularly swallowed up part of a front garden, demolished a brick-built garage and forced families to flee nearby homes when it first appeared in April 1997.

It later led to demolition of a Victorian detached property, while a pair of modern semi-detached dwellings have remained empty and are now earmarked for demolition.

The crater was caused by gypsum deposits which have led to other craters in nearby fields over a period of 150 years.

The crater was filled in by North Yorkshire County Council last year.

But now local residents fear there is fresh movement in and around the crater.

Solicitor Tony Storey, who represents nearby home owners, said a hole had now appeared - about a foot wide and deep - outside a fence erected around the crater.

"My concern is that we have the wettest summer for 130 years and I just wonder what is going on underground", said Mr Storey.

Property owner Adam Potts believes the crater will eventually reappear and thinks much will depend on the weather.

Nearby resident Xenophon Kelsey said: "The crater keeps going down and it had sunk again the last time I looked."

North Yorkshire County Council's head of environmental management, Mike Masterman, said they were inspecting the site periodically, concentrating on the road itself. "We have looked at it in the last week or so and I am aware of some minor movement in the fill of the crater," he said. "But as far as we are concerned there is nothing of which we are aware affecting the stability of the road. That will remain open to traffic."

Mr Masterman said an estimated 2ft depression in the crater would be expected from the settlement of the material.

"When we filled the hole we overfilled it to allow for settlement and since then have raked over the ground in the past year to level it out," he added.